Having that many people in prison is bullshit, and just one of many reasons the War on Drugs should be ended immediately.
Are you suggesting we don’t incarcerate criminals?
Not that I don’t believe you necessarily, but I would like to see some citations for your “facts” (as on the surface some seem to be bullshit).
ETA: Nice username/OP combo.
I have a hard time believing this. There’s been a lot of societies that have imprisoned a lot of people over time. And let’s not forget a number of other similar attrocities like slavery and genocide which also have direct correlations to things like race and ethnicity.
Why is this relevant. The US is a very different type of society than a lot of countries that people like to compare it to. Not only is the US much larger than a lot of European countries, but it also has a much greater diversity in terms of class and culture. These sorts of things breed conflict and creates further divide in the classes, and all of that leads to more crime.
And if you compare the US to large countries like India and China, would you actually possibly suggest that their societies are better? Both suffer from a lot of the same problems that the US does, except worse.
A lot of this has to do with the war on drugs. I agree it needs to be fixed, but it really doesn’t have much to do with your rant here.
As others have pointed out, this stat is deliberately misleading and it only hurts your argument.
Yes, there’s some racism in the system, but I think a lot more of it also has to do with class and culture. There’s a disproportionate number of blacks suffering in poverty. I have a hard time blaming the prison and justice systems when the underlying issues have nothing to do with them.
Three strikes rules are dumb, people should serve time appropriate to their crime. That said, these look like gross misrepresentations of the cases. And even if they weren’t, one can always cherry-pick cases that make the system look bad, just as we can cherry-pick ones that make it look good. So, I don’t find these very convincing at all.
As others said upthread, jobs in prison are generally highly sought after because it gives them something to break up the monotony and help keep them out of trouble. Would you prefer that these people didn’t get paid anything? Would you prefer that they didn’t have jobs at all and just sat in their cells all day? If we paid them a full wage, wouldn’t that just encourage people struggling to find work to commit a crime to get room and board AND get a nice wage in the process?
The prison statistics are symptoms of a larger problem, but it’s precisely the sort of stuff that anyone can look at and get out of it whatever they’re looking for. A racist can justify that blacks are violent law-breakers. The anti-drug crowd can justify what a bane on society drugs are. Or people like you can look at it and ramble about injustice and humanitarian issues. The underlying problems are a lot more complicated than that sort of stuff.
But really, for all your complaining about our society, what do you suggest we do? It’s not something that’s as easy to fix as just investing more money in the education of the poor and young. There’s a lot of problems with the culture that breeds this, and it takes some social changes and it takes time.
Is this one of those threads where the OP harangues everyone who responds with anything other than an unqualified “HELL YEAH!!”? 'Cause if that’s the case, I don’t think I can be bothered.
Sorry, I mean, HELL YEAH!!
Alkways a good question!
Maybe understand why comparable first world societies imprison 10% of the US figure - or 1 in a 1000 - of the population, and what that means for both societies and the individuals.
Maybe even baulk at the shamlessness the next time a US President “raises” the issue of human rights to a Chinese leader.
Perhaps even consider how choices given to the poor help the USA maintain a ‘volunteer’ military.
FYI: I did a quick google search on this and the first entry was an article refuting this from the following highly acclaimed website. Perhaps you may have heard of it.
If anything, we ought to be imprisoning more people. When whites, Hispanics and Asians are incarcerated at the same rate per offense as black people, we can start worrying about the total.
Have you read that link from seven years ago, seven years further down the road for the three strikes rule?
Nice sequential usernames.
Maybe we’ll get followups from Mr.LowIQ, Doesn’t Quite Get It and Mouthbreather.
What the hell are you talking about?
ETA: That was addressed to PrettyVacant.
~Not PrettyVacant, but I’m guessing s/he meant why are you dragging facts into this that are seven whole years old. I mean c’mon, don’t you have anything current!?
I too watched last night’s repeat showing of this QI episode, Pretty Vacant 
I feel like I’m part of a circus act.
Should we just all stand up, sing the national anthem and go home happy to our struggling middle class worlds where it’s safe and we don’t have to think?
Right, so it’s going to be the haranguing, then.
That’s possible, but I think you’re starting your act by coming out of a little car.
We do have to think. We just think you’re an idiot.
You can’t just throw up this undigested spam and expect to be patted on the back. For crying out loud, you expect outbursts of hysterical weeping because some three-time loser is biting his toenails in Club Fed? Tough noogies, sux to be him.
Sux to be you, too, if you can’t think straight about why criminals are in prison.
Regards,
Shodan
And, if you don’t shape up…the comfy chair.:eek:
I didn’t expect that.
Regards,
Shodan
It seems you’re unfamiliar with the culture here. If you wanted a more serious conversation, you should have started this in Great Debates. Threads in The BBQ Pit can turn in directions that are unexpected, and even unwanted, by the OP. I think this is a matter worthy of serious debate, but you aren’t really likely to get it in the Pit.
It’s not often one can say this, but Shodan nails it. The OP is as vacant as the username.
PV, arguing that your OP is utter bull excrement piled hip high does not equal thinking there is no problem. If I’m reading this thread correctly, even those who feel that the War on Drugs has criminalized and incarcerated far too many people aren’t lining up to support the bovine feces in your list. You can make a good argument on good facts, or even a bad argument on good facts, but you can’t make a good argument on bad facts in these parts. You tried the last.
That’s how I get by in the greatest society ever greated by mankind.
Keep up the good fight PV so I don’t have to and I can just go home and watch Top Gear and Pawn Stars.